Who made the best Canadian album of the year?

Canada probably cranks out a lot more great albums per capita than any country this side of Iceland, so it actually means something to say that you made Canada's best album during any particular year. That's the distinction that the Polaris Music Prize hopes to decide.

Every year a group of Canadian music business folks (full disclosure: including Pitchfork contributor Stuart Berman and former Pitchfork contributor Carl Wilson) gets together to pick the Canadian album with the highest artistic merit. Last year, the winner was Fucked Up's supremely deserving The Chemistry of Common Life. The Polaris folks just announced the shortlist of nominees for this year's prize, one of whom will take home both bragging rights and $20,000 in prize money.